HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - The Regional Alabama Future City Competition sponsored by National Engineers Week was held Saturday Jan. 19th at UAHuntsville's Shelby Center. 17 teams of 6th, 7th and 8th graders from North & Central Alabama built models of future urban centers and gave presentations to judges.

To participate, three students create a team along with a teacher and an engineer mentor. They use SimCity 4 Deluxe, a complex simulation software application that helps them design a futuristic city. The future cites must address issues such as pollution, crime, safety, traffic, unemployment, power consumption, taxes, zoning, water systems and other societal problems.

The students prepare an abstract of the city, an essay on an engineering topic, build a scaled-down dimensional model and give a formal presentation before a panel of judges composed of volunteer engineers from local companies.

The 1st place winner this year was the Academy for Science & Foreign Languages with their city named Aqua Terra. 2nd place went to Randolph School with their city named Amani. 3rd place went to Whitesburg Middle School with their city named Monde d'Leau.